Maintenance Mode

Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward. –Maxwell Maltz

It’s true, isn’t it? Life is good when me are making progress toward a goal, moving forward in our career, getting stronger, or learning a new hobby.

The problem is, however, that we are rarely, if ever, moving forward at full steam in all areas of our life.

We may put aside hobbies as we try to finish our advanced degree. Our workouts may go to the back-burner as we burn the candle at both ends building a career. We may put aside that career to begin raising a family.

The point is- we have priorities. And at different times in our lives, our priorities will necessarily shift.

If something gets shifted to the top of our priorities, everything else is shifted down by default.

And that’s OK.

It’s too easy to feel guilty about downshifting on a path that you were formerly charging ahead on.

By taking some time to get clear on your priorities, however, it is much easier to make peace with the fact that certain aspects of your life will be on maintenance mode.

Everything in life is seasonal. When the season comes to shift gears, if you’ve put yourself on a maintenance plan, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off and once again charge ahead.

The point is this: just because life isn’t allowing you to hit 5 workouts per week, or read a book per week, doesn’t mean that you give up working out or reading altogether. Hitting 1-2 workouts per week, and 20 minutes of reading per day, will be more than enough to maintain a pace that allows you to keep progressing while focusing on whatever other area of your life is requiring your attention at this moment.